Mumbai:
Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) will buy a 5-per cent
stake in Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd for $42.7 million,
BSE said in a statement. This is the first overseas acquisition
by Singapore Exchange, Asia's third-largest listed bourse.

The Bombay Stock Exchange had last month sold a 5-per
cent stake to Germany's Deutsche Boerse for the same price,
following a similar deal.

"This strategic tie-up with SGX will offer the Asian
advantage to BSE," BSE chief executive and managing
director Rajnikant Patel said in a statement.

SGX
chief executive Hsieh Fu Hua said quoted as having said,
"Together we aim to identify new business development
opportunities."

The deal values the BSE stake far below the $2.3 billion
paid to rival National Stock Exchange, after NYSE Group
Inc and others, including Goldman Sachs, paid $460 million
for stakes totaling 20 per cent in January.

The deal comes amidst warnings by some economists and
strategists that Indian stocks are in danger of becoming
a bubble. Stocks on the Indian exchanges are some of the
most richly valued in Asia, after Bombay Stock Exchange's
Sensex index jumped 45 per cent in 2006.

The
Indian stocks are also highly volatile. Last week's Asian
market correction took some of the froth off Indian stocks.
A rebound in stock indexes on March 6 was followed by
losses in Indian markets the next day. The Sensex closed
0.92 per cent lower at 12,579.75.